Beyond Intuitive Models: Exploring the Role of Gestures in Learning Multiplication and Division
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| Title: | Beyond Intuitive Models: Exploring the Role of Gestures in Learning Multiplication and Division |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Paula Jouannet (ORCID |
| Source: | Educational Studies in Mathematics. 2025 120(3):477-496. |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 20 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education Early Childhood Education Grade 3 Primary Education |
| Descriptors: | Mathematics Skills, Mathematical Models, Multiplication, Division, Arithmetic, Intuition, Semiotics, Elementary School Students, Grade 3, Human Body, Learning Processes, Nonverbal Communication, Human Posture, Eye Movements, Learning Modalities, Motion, Experiential Learning |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10649-025-10432-x |
| ISSN: | 0013-1954 1573-0816 |
| Abstract: | This study explores how bodily actions of iterating, sharing and grouping can contribute to the understanding of multiplication and division, going beyond their conventional framing as intuitive arithmetic models. Drawing on objectification theory, we reconceptualize these operations as historically and culturally situated relationships between quantities. Using multimodal semiotic analysis of classroom activity in a third-grade setting, we examine how bodily actions support learning processes. The findings suggest that movements grounded in everyday bodily experience can be re-signified, fostering an embodied sense of multiplication through semiotic adaptations across diverse modalities, such as gestures, speech, artifacts, posture, gaze, and tone. Gestures involved in mathematical sense-making tend to be more temporally extended and structurally organized than purely iconic gestures, adapting formally and spatially to establish referential connections with quantities. Additionally, rhythm emerges as a key semiotic device, structuring movement into an iterative measuring process. We conceptualize this transformation as the domestication of the hands--a process through which bodily movements are progressively refined to signify multiplicative relationships with increasing precision. Through the lens of embodied cognition, these findings invite a critical reassessment of the intuitive models approach, offering new perspectives on the interrelation between bodily experience and mathematical learning. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1492827 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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